For the first time in history, a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event will take place literally underground - on October 26, in the salt mine in Wieliczka (southern Poland), a martial arts promoter Tomasz Babiloński said on Wednesday.

“This time, 125 meters underground, we will set the cage, not the ring,” he said, referring to the Underground Boxing Show that took place on October 29, 2018, at the same location.

Mr Babiloński, who organised boxing events for 15 years, is now involved in the MMA world, hoping for further achievements.

"In boxing, I brought Krzysztof Głowacki to the WBO belt in junior heavyweight, and then he defended the title in the US. I believe that in MMA, I will also have a fighter who will reach the summit with hard work, to fight under the largest mixed martial arts federation - the UFC,” Mr Babiloński stated.

In his team, there are currently 11 fighters on short and long-term contracts. The promoter drew attention to a growing number of athletes in MMA, compared to professional boxing.

"First of all, boxing is full of malice, athletes are divided into groups, subgroups... The important thing about Polish MMA is that fighters are not picky, they want to fight among themselves to find out who is the best in the country. MMA is in a different, better condition than boxing, and I can see that Polish MMA has an interesting future ahead,” Mr Babiloński said.